Vol 24 (2011) (PDF, 709 Kb) - Civil and Natural Resources ...
Vol 24 (2011) (PDF, 709 Kb) - Civil and Natural Resources ...
Vol 24 (2011) (PDF, 709 Kb) - Civil and Natural Resources ...
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And then applied across the four stages of a<br />
project, namely:<br />
• Policy, which sets the agenda for the<br />
planning, procurement, delivery, maintenance<br />
<strong>and</strong> decommissioning of sustainable<br />
infrastructure.<br />
• Planning, which links infrastructure needs<br />
to organisational objectives, policies <strong>and</strong><br />
strategies?<br />
• Implementation, where decisions are made<br />
regarding the design, procurement <strong>and</strong><br />
delivery of infrastructure.<br />
• In-use, where infrastructure is operated <strong>and</strong><br />
maintained before being decommissioned in<br />
an orderly way.<br />
The Toolkit had its International Launch in Ghana<br />
in April <strong>2011</strong> at the Ghana Institution of Engineers<br />
in Accra to over 60 engineers <strong>and</strong> then to over<br />
350 students at the Kwame Nkruma University of<br />
Science <strong>and</strong> Technology in Kumasi.<br />
In between the launches in London <strong>and</strong> Ghana<br />
the Toolkit has been showcased at Engineers<br />
without Borders meetings <strong>and</strong> workshops<br />
in Manchester, Strathclyde <strong>and</strong> at the Royal<br />
Academy of Engineering in London in the UK –<br />
<strong>and</strong> in Kentucky USA where it drew a particularly<br />
positive response from Dirk Bouma (former<br />
Chair of the SE Technical Advisory Committee<br />
of EWB-USA). The Toolkit has featured various<br />
regional meetings of the ICE in the UK <strong>and</strong> Hong<br />
Kong, the Zimbabwe Institution of Engineers<br />
UK, the Nigerian Society of Engineers <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Association of Consulting Engineers. Almost all<br />
of these presentations have been undertaken by<br />
the Apprentices. The Toolkit has also featured in<br />
numerous magazine <strong>and</strong> journal articles (NCE,<br />
the South African Institution of <strong>Civil</strong> Engineering<br />
Journal, <strong>and</strong> the Global Urbanist) together with<br />
various in-house corporate newsletters.<br />
And funding has been received from the Royal<br />
Academy of Engineering’s “Ingenious” public<br />
engagement scheme to roll-out the Toolkit in the<br />
UK to companies, universities, school students<br />
<strong>and</strong> civil society. Twelve events are planned, <strong>and</strong><br />
the search has begun to find suitable venues in<br />
each of the UK’s 12 ICE regions. Plans are in h<strong>and</strong><br />
to extend the Toolkit contents <strong>and</strong> turn it into<br />
an i-App, <strong>and</strong> UNESCO are funding the printing<br />
of 4000 hard copy samples of the Toolkit for<br />
worldwide distribution.<br />
There is no doubt that the successful delivery<br />
of the Toolkit was the highlight of my year as<br />
President - a year full of so many. There were<br />
many who doubted it was possible <strong>and</strong> in the<br />
lead-in to my Presidency I was often asked<br />
“what was Plan B?” There was no Plan B. The<br />
Apprentices delivered. And that is what we expect<br />
our graduates to do. To deliver. To be confident.<br />
And to know your subject <strong>and</strong> its context. Now is<br />
the Time!<br />
UC Research Offers Solution to<br />
Strengthen Vulnerable Buildings<br />
An innovative solution for strengthening multistorey<br />
concrete buildings was put to the test<br />
on the University of Canterbury’s shake table<br />
earlier this month.<br />
As part of a seven-year Foundation for Research,<br />
Science <strong>and</strong> Technology-funded project on<br />
“Seismic Retrofit Solutions for NZ multi-storey<br />
buildings” started in 2004, a three-storey<br />
reinforced concrete (RC) model building was put<br />
through two simulated earthquakes before an<br />
audience of staff, students <strong>and</strong> local television<br />
crews.<br />
The particular research being tested – part of PhD<br />
student Patricio Quintana Gallo’s thesis project<br />
but related to a much wider body of research<br />
being carried out by a team from the <strong>Civil</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Natural</strong> <strong>Resources</strong> Engineering Department led<br />
by Associate Professor Stefano Pampanin– was<br />
an investigation of the seismic response of nonductile<br />
pre-1970 RC frame buildings, before <strong>and</strong><br />
after a rehabilitation or retrofit intervention. The<br />
objective was to upgrade the performance of<br />
such a structure when it is subjected to strong<br />
earthquake ground motions.<br />
The model had been retrofitted with GFRP (Glass<br />
Fibre Reinforced Polymer) laminates, which<br />
are like b<strong>and</strong>ages that can be wrapped around<br />
a building’s damaged or vulnerable spots, a<br />
solution neither too invasive nor expensive <strong>and</strong><br />
one that could provide a solution to strengthen<br />
this country’s older RC buildings, as well as repair<br />
<strong>and</strong> strengthen the damaged ones, <strong>and</strong> make<br />
them far safer.<br />
The use of advanced composite materials for<br />
seismic retrofit prior <strong>and</strong> after earthquake events<br />
is becoming, at an international level, a highly<br />
regarded solution as proven by the seismic repair<br />
<strong>and</strong> rehabilitation of many public schools after<br />
the L’Aquila earthquake in Italy in 2009.<br />
The first simulation was based on the ground<br />
motions recorded in the CBD during last<br />
September’s 7.1 magnitude Darfield Earthquake<br />
<strong>and</strong> the second shake test subjected the<br />
structure to the same ground motions of Chile’s<br />
8.8 magnitude quake in February 2010, which<br />
researchers believe would be relatively similar, in<br />
duration <strong>and</strong> intensity, to what we could expect<br />
in Christchurch from major seismic activity on<br />
the Alpine Fault.<br />
Patricio said the testing proved that researchers<br />
had been able to reverse the “hierarchy of<br />
strengths” in the beam column joint region<br />
using the GFRP laminates, thus protecting the<br />
structure from a soft-storey or “pancake” collapse<br />
mechanism, <strong>and</strong> therefore proved the efficiency<br />
of their design for upgrading the performance of<br />
these older reinforced concrete buildings.<br />
Park <strong>and</strong> Paulay Fund<br />
A fund to commemorate the achievements<br />
<strong>and</strong> contributions of two of our department’s<br />
renowned civil engineers has been officially<br />
launched at the University of Canterbury.<br />
The Park <strong>and</strong> Paulay Fund, promoted by the<br />
University of Canterbury Foundation, has been<br />
established to honour the groundbreaking work<br />
of Professor Bob Park (1933-2004) <strong>and</strong> Professor<br />
Tom Paulay (1922-2009), both academics in the<br />
Department made significant contributions<br />
in the fields of structural <strong>and</strong> earthquake<br />
engineering.<br />
Professors Park <strong>and</strong> Paulay received international<br />
recognition for their work, which they undertook<br />
both separately <strong>and</strong> together. Their major work,<br />
Reinforced Concrete Structures (1975), became a<br />
seminal work on capacity design <strong>and</strong> has been<br />
translated into many languages.<br />
The fund, launched at a gathering of colleagues,<br />
family <strong>and</strong> friends, will be used to make awards<br />
to outst<strong>and</strong>ing young engineers to help them<br />
develop into professionals able to contribute<br />
strongly to the fields of structural <strong>and</strong> earthquake<br />
engineering. The fund was initiated by Wellington<br />
consulting engineer Dr David Hopkins, a former<br />
student of both Park <strong>and</strong> Paulay.<br />
Speaking at the launch, Dr Hopkins described<br />
the pair as “special people” <strong>and</strong> said it was fitting<br />
that a fund had been established in their honour.<br />
He said the fund would encourage young<br />
engineers to emulate the work carried out by the<br />
two men <strong>and</strong> to aspire to the personal qualities<br />
demonstrated by the pair.<br />
The fund was officially launched by Professor Paul<br />
Jowitt, President of the UK-based Institution of<br />
<strong>Civil</strong> Engineers, who was in the country to present<br />
the 2010 Hopkins Lecture. He said professors<br />
Park <strong>and</strong> Paulay notched up many outst<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
achievements of worldwide significance.“Tom<br />
<strong>and</strong> Bob made a fabulous team <strong>and</strong> they were<br />
fantastic mentors <strong>and</strong> teachers as well as<br />
researchers.”<br />
Executive Officer of the University of Canterbury<br />
Foundation, Shelagh Murray, said donations<br />
have already been received from around the<br />
world. “We are hoping to achieve our target of<br />
$200,000 to establish a capital fund for awarding<br />
of scholarships.”<br />
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